BCS non-AQ math never adds up right

Life was easier in pre-politically correct days. A conference was either BCS or non-BCS. The BCS never intended for the boundaries to blur so much on the field. One Boise State or Utah or TCU would make for a nice underdog story, but three in the top five heading into November?

Once again let’s spell out what the letters really mean. The BCS (rebranded AQ for automatic qualifying) is a cabal of six power leagues concentrating their vast majority of the wealth in intercollegiate football.

The best of the non-AQ just wins games on the field and fights the battle off the field. The AQ won’t give up power unless it’s looking down the barrel of a Congressional shotgun.

This is the reality of the BCS standings. The non-AQ unbeatens take positions three-through-five. Next week two will remain with the survivor of Saturday’s TCU-Utah game.

Boise State or the Utah-TCU winner will land in a BCS bowl. Unlike last year, don’t count on Boise State and the Mountain West champ to both land BCS spots.

A week ago, computer rankings analyst Jerry Palm explained he assumed Boise State would take Oregon’s place in the Rose Bowl with Oregon going to the national championship game. Now it appears the TCU-Utah winner would jump ahead of Boise State.

Palm explained the Fiesta Bowl picks last and would be stuck with the Big East champ. Although the Sugar Bowl could be in position to pick the next highest non-Q team, well there are some bad memories in New Orleans of what Utah did to SEC kingpin Alabama.

By the way, Big East leader Syracuse is nowhere to be found in the BCS standings, and is in the also receiving votes category of the AP Top 25.

Of course, the BCS proponents will claim this year will accomplish exactly what the BCS intended by naming a clear No. 1. That indeed will be true if Oregon-Auburn remain unbeaten.

But sit back and imagine a four-team playoff: Boise State vs: the Utah/TCU winner then advancing against the Oregon-Auburn champ.

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.